Max Weber and Digital Divide Studies

International Journal of Communication 9(2015), 2757–2762 1932–8036/20150005

Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives (by-nc-nd). Available at http://ijoc.org.

Introduction

MASSIMO RAGNEDDA

Northumbria University, UK

GLENN W. MUSCHERT1

Miami University, USA

Seminal sociologist Max Weber rarely wrote about media dynamics; however, the

Weberian perspective offers rich potential for the analysis of various media issues,

including the study of digital divides. In particular, the contribution of a Weberian school

of thought to the field seems to be the addition of noneconomic and nontechnical

concerns to the study of digital inequalities, most notably the importance of status and

legitimacy and group affiliations and political relations as areas of focus. This piece

introduces the Special Section on Max Weber and digital divide studies and clarifies the

inspiration behind it. It briefly presents the article contributions, while summarizing their

arguments, and offers a broad discussion of Weber’s relevance to digital divide studies

as a way of understanding the individual articles as a shared intellectual effort.

Keywords: digital divide, digital inequality, Max Weber, social stratification

Much of the literature on stratification in the digital sphere (i.e., on digital divides and digital

inequalities) has focused on the fundamental material and technical inequalities present in the digital

domain (e.g., see the following scholars for discussion of the limitations of first-level digital divide studies:

Castells, 2001; Hargittai, 2002; Stanley, 2003; van Dijk, 2005). More recently, others have examined the

role that digital skills (or digital literacy) play in inclusion and exclusion from the digital sphere (e.g., see

the following scholars for discussion of second-level digital divides: Hargittai & Hsieh, 2013; van Dijck,

2013; van Deursen & van Dijk 2013). One area that needs scholarly attention is the exploration of

theoretical approaches to study digital inequalities and their connections to the social sphere. To broaden

the scope, the articles in this Special Section of International Journal of Communication draw on the

Massimo Ragnedda: [email protected]

Glenn W. Muschert: [email protected]

Date submitted: 2015–07–24

1 We editors of this Special Section wish to thank our colleagues who participated in the sessions on this

theme at the Media, Communication, and Cultural Studies Association meetings (Northumbria University,

UK, January 2015). In addition, we offer special thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their contributions

and to Arlene Luck, who kindly guided us through the editorial process.

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